PATH was founded by Kath Friedrich and her daughter Zoe and is now in its fourth winter. Its name stands for People Assisting Torbay’s Homeless and its offices are open for drop-in sessions from 2pm to 9pm seven days a week, every day of the year.

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The news threatens the future of its services, including a revolutionary new-style interactive food bank which means people get exactly the food parcel they need.

The charity's Abbey Road base was always just a stop-gap as it is listed to be sold to fund the Torbay Council's investment programme , and Path now has only three weeks to find new premises.

Kath thanked the council for their support: "We really are the first homeless charity that they have acknowledged as a vital support system - we want to keep that credibility.

"The irony is that we are following that same journey as our homeless - first temporary accommodation and now we are going to be out on the streets very, very soon because the council need the building vacant for viewings so that they can sell it."

PATH started as a mobile charity feeding the homeless one bitter winter. But Kath said they learned from having Roebuck House the necessity of a permanent base open seven days a week.

"Word goes round - just last week we had someone with mental health problems who started hearing voices and just left his flat and was wandering like a vagabond for seven days. When the voices stopped he didn't know where to go and somebody told him about us.

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"We are not religious. We are not politicial. We are just basic down-to-earth local people. We welcome help from anybody so long as they don't use us as a political platform."

The charity PATH which partners with Torbay Council in the Torbay End Street Homelessness (TESH) group

She listed the reasons why last year charities have been hit by a huge 'tsunami' of desperate, hungry and vulnerable people in need:

The change from DLA (disability living allowance) to PIP (personal independence payments), where 80 per cent of claims were refused and those people are still not being seen until March this year for new claims,

The rising cost of living

Harsh sanctions for jobseekers allowance - with some people having no money at all for up to six months just because of missing an appointment

Rising rents and rogue landlords who charge more as housing benefits go down so that people are having to find money to top up their rent

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Kath also said she saw more older people who are unable to carry on working in trades who end up doing low-paid menial jobs because they become unable to carry on in physically demanding jobs: "I keep seeing these great big blokes sitting on supermarket checkouts, with shovels for hands, who have been builders

She is a volunteer and stresses that PATH is run solely by volunteers and has no paid staff or CEO.

Denise started her own voluntary project to help the homeless one cold winter by sending out ACE taxi drivers with gloves, scarves and hats to hand out whenever they saw someone cold, living on the streets. ACE Taxis then became PATH's first donation drop-off point and she went on to become its vice-chairman.

She said: "PATH need a permanent home. We have been very lucky for the past two years as we have been given buildings to use for free but we want to offer all the people we help more."

She said: "It has grown into an army of volunteers running a drop in centre open every day from 2-9pm which includes a food bank and signposting to relevant agencies.

"We provide hot food every day. We have an outreach team which start at 9pm every night on the streets of Paignton, Torquay and Newton Abbot providing hot drinks food and warm clothes. We can do so much more we just need a more stable base."

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Kath said: "All the wise men were beating a path to our door with donations before Christmas - we had 14 turkeys donated, as well as potatoes, carrots and 123 bags of parsnips from Aldi - I don't ever want to look at a parsnip again.

"We pledged to make hot meals not just on Christmas Day but throughout the 12 days of Christmas and we made the last one last night.

"But now our volunteers have agreed to carry on cooking a hot meal every night right up until we get our eviction notice."

As temperatures plummet making the homeless more vulnerable, PATH volunteers have pledged to carry on making hot meals every night until the eviction notice.

All of the people who volunteer seven days a week have been homeless themselves and are now grateful ex-service users of PATH.

Kath Friedrich second right with other volunteers from homeless charity PATH (Image: TESH)

Kath and Denise are also asking if anybody knows of somewhere which could be given to them for three to five years under the Empty Building Scheme, in the same way that Roebuck House was donated.

"The move from Roebuck to Abbey Road was very traumatic for lots of our guys - there were different rules, a different set-up and a different environment. Lots of them reacted badly for the first few weeks. A high percentage have mental health issues or are on the autistic spectrum. It took them a few weeks to settle down.

"When we started out we were mobile and none of us anticipated the importance and the power of having a permanent base. We have realised the difference we can make to people's lives. For some of them, even after they get their own place, this is still like a second home. They come in every single day. Sometimes they just need reassurance to help with a form. It's the familiar faces. We are probably the only people they have spoken to all day."